adulterates

Verb

adulterate (third-person singular simple present adulterates, present participle adulterating, simple past and past participle adulterated)

1. (archaic, literary, transitive) To corrupt, to debase (someone or something).
   • For thus, that King violated that Oath which he ought moſt religiouſly to have ſworn to; but that he might not ſeem openly and publickly to violate it, he craftily adulterated and corrupted it; and leaſt he himſelf ſhould be accounted perjur'd, he turn'd the very Oath into a Perjury. [...] And who...1692, John Milton, chapter XII, in [Joseph Washington], transl., A Defence of the People of England, […]: In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 237

   Synonyms:

   lead astray, sophisticate, warp, corrupt, debauch, demoralize, detort, file, immoralize, pervert

2. (archaic, literary, transitive) To make less valuable or spoil (something) by adding impurities or other substances.
   • to adulterate coins, drugs, food and drink, etc.

   Synonyms:

   adulter, debase, sophisticate

3. (archaic, literary, transitive) To commit adultery with (someone).

   Synonyms:

   adulter

4. (archaic, literary, transitive) To defile (someone) by adultery.
   • Yet ſome would perſwade us, that this abſurd opinion was King Davids; becauſe in the 51st Pſalm he cries out to God, Againſt thee onely have I ſinn'd; as if David had imagin'd that to murder Uriah and adulterate his Wife, had bin no ſinn againſt his Neighbour, when as that Law of Moſes was to the...1649, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates: […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], published 1649 (2nd printing), →OCLC, page 13
5. (also, archaic, figuratively, intransitive, literary) To commit adultery.
   • But Fortune, oh, / She is corrupted, chang’d, and wonne from thee, / Sh’adulterates hourely with thine Vnckle Iohn, / And with her golden hand hath pluckt on France / To tread downe faire reſpect of Soueraigntie, / And made his Maieſtie the bawd to theirs.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

See all 7 meanings of adulterate